This invention relates to bristle brushes for applying cosmetics such as mascara or the like.
For purposes of illustration, the invention will be described as embodied in mascara brushes of the type having an axially elongated twisted wire core with a multiplicity of fibers such as bristles clamped at their midpoints in the core and extending radially outwardly therefrom to form a brush bristle array surrounding the core over a substantial portion of the length of the core, typically to the outer (distal) end of the core. The core is constituted of two runs of wire, which may be initially separate but are more usually opposed legs of a single U-shaped wire, twisted together into an axially rectilinear helix to hold the bristles between them. This combination of a twisted wire core and a radiating array of bristles clamped in the core provides a simple, low-cost and effective brush structure for uses exemplified by the application of mascara.
Such mascara brushes are well known and widely used in the cosmetics industry. Commonly, the proximal end of the brush is mounted within the threaded cap of a mascara container, so that the brush projects into the container when the cap is in container-closing position. Upon removal of the cap, the brush carries a quantity of mascara out of the container, and is manipulated to deliver and apply the mascara to the user's eyelashes, the cap serving as a handle for the brush.
In conventional mascara brushes having the described twisted-wire-and-bristle construction, the overall profile of the brush bristle array (such profile being the notional envelope defined by the bristle extremities) is ordinarily cylindrical and/or smoothly tapering, with progressively shorter bristles, toward the distal end of the brush. The bristles within the profile may be arranged in discrete though closely spaced helical rows corresponding to the helical turns of the wire core, or they may be distributed substantially uniformly. In either case, any given brush has essentially only a single set of applicator characteristics (shape, dimensions, bristle stiffness, etc.). The application of mascara, however, involves diverse functions and operations, including pickup, transport and deposit of the mascara; combing of the lashes; and even distribution of the applied mascara. The applicator characteristics of a given conventional brush do not perform all these various functions and operations equally well.
It has heretofore been proposed to provide two implements, such as a brush and a comb, for separately performing the diverse functions involved in applying mascara. The provision of two implements adds to cost and detracts from convenience of use; furthermore, as it is usually not feasible to enclose more than one implement in a mascara container, one of the implements must be left exposed (when not in use) to contamination outside the container.